Are you ready to see the quickest dress I have ever made? Yeah, it's another Ebony. Yeah, I love the scuba fabric that Britex gave me. Yeah, I did a good job of lining up the print, but didn't take into account where the print would land... Oops. Whatever, still love this dress and will wear it nonstop!


While this dress is made from the Ebony pattern it is a mix between the dress (View A) and the tunic View C), so I will call this "View D." It has the raglan sleeves paired with the length of the dress and it is a 90% rip off of Heather's beautiful scuba version. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery or just call me "Copy Cat Erin." 😆 Ok, I didn't completely copy her (which is why I deducted 10% from the number above) because I didn't attach the neckband the same way she did and followed the instructions from the pattern, while she did more of a binding style neckband.


I don't have a ton to say about the project, as I just blogged about the other Ebony shirts I made in a blog post several weeks ago, but if you would like to see how I merged the two pattern pieces together you can check that out over on the Britex blog. Honestly, tracing the new pattern pieces was the most time consuming part of this sewing project. It was a very quick and easy sew that ended up being a sophisticated dress imho. But that's what a nice fabric can do for you!


A major upside to me was not hemming. For whatever reason I dread hemming. I think it's because it's the last step before finishing a garment and it seems like it's keeping me from the finish line. Idk. But what I do know is that I don't particularly enjoy it. The cool thing about scuba is that it doesn't fray and therefore doesn't have to be hemmed! 🎉🎈! No hemming = an even faster dress.


 It's funny that I made this during Me Made May because I have been going so hard on wearing separates, but a girl has to treat herself to making a cute dress every once in a while 💁 So shout out to my sister, Kelly, for taking the photos, to Britex for the fabric, and to my closet because it just got cooler with this dress in it. Now back to my regular scheduled life of sewing separates.

Can you guys tell that I am a fan of neutrals? 😹😹😹 All joking aside, I do love me some black clothing, but you all know by now that I'm into really bright fabrics too, right? And bright psychedelic butterfly fabric sent to me from Britex Fabrics, CHECK!!!


Have I sewn with silk crepe de chine before? I don't think I have, but now I am a fan. It was a lot easier to prep, cut, and sew in comparison to the silk chiffon I sewed with at the end of last year. Way less slippery too, which I am not complaining about. And because it wasn't super sheer I got away with serging the raw edges instead of French seams. Again, not mad about that!


The shirt is the SBCC Gibson Blouse, a pattern I bought that has been chillin on my bookshelf for a while, waiting to be used. I think I always write this when I blog about SBCC, but man, I am such a huge fan of Betsy's stuff. With most patterns that require a woven fabric I end up doing some sort of narrow shoulder adjustment paired with an FBA or grade between sizes, and sometimes I end up doing all of the above so the garment will work with my narrow shoulders. As a petite, and SBCC is geared towards petites, it is sooooo nice to not have to make these adjustments and have the sleeves fit well and not dig into my armpits or feel weird. That said, I didn't make a single fit adjustment to the pattern and I like how it turned out. And if I do need to make any shoulder adjustments in the future I am going to do it Betsy's way. She just posted an awesome tutorial that I am dying to try. Bring on the shoulder adjustments!

Construction of Gibson went pretty smoothly. I'm glad I made a wearable muslin first because it made sewing my final version straightforward. On the muslin I did do some head scratching when it came to which seam allowances to use since there are a few options, but in the end it all worked out.


Gathers, gathers, gathers. This psychedelic silk butterfly fabric may not be the best for displaying the sewing details in this garment, but I wanted to make this pattern and fabric combo happen. They're there on the bodice front, sleeves, and back of the shirt, I promise! If you'd like to see how I gather fabric then check out this post I wrote for Britex.

For the hem and sleeves I didn't follow the suggested method of folding and stitching and did a roll hem instead by following Grainline's tutorial. I think it looks a little cleaner and it actually ended up being easier to sew too.

Before I wrap this up I just want to thank everyone who commented on my last post about my Grandma. I got a lot of really sweet and thoughtful text messages, comments, messages online, and a very nice card from Sonja. We all have busy lives and the fact that so many of you took time out of your day to send me encouragement and kind words really means so much to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. xoxox

Also, this garment has a very special meaning to me in regards to my Grandma. If you ever meet me in person and want to grab a drink I will tell you all about it.